Ashes to Ashes
by Dea Domino
Summary: She can't go on forever... [Botan]


Hey everyone! Just decided to post this drabble-thingy. I think it kinda sucks, but who knows, someone might like it! MAJOR OOC from Botan, but hey, who knows what the Grim Reaper has on her mind. Just kidding, I love Botan-chan!!!

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu Yu Hakusho I would be living in a big mansion. On a private island. In the Caribbean. Do you see an island anywhere?

_Italics- Thoughts_

Botan pressed the sleeve of her kimono to her nose as she stumbled through the carnage. Her hand slid across a crumbling timber as she stumbled across dirt covered in ashes and soaked with blood.

"_We should play a game!" Keiko said decisively as she kneeled beside the table where the others were sitting._

"_Like what?" Shizuru grumbled, a cigarette dangling from her lips. The girls watched the smoke climb and spiral towards the ceiling. Glaring at her friends, she crushed it onto the table. Keiko looked mildly distressed, but decided to let the messy habit slide. Once. _

_Keiko looked rather sheepish as she twisted the frayed ends of the rug, "Oh I don't know, but we should do _**somethin_g_**_ while the boys are gone, I mean… who knows when they…. will…" Here she stopped abruptly, her glassy eyes searching across the darkening horizon. _

_Botan, sensing her friend's distress quickly replied, "Keiko you know the boys, especially Yuuske. I doubt even Lord Enma himself could stop them from coming back." Yes, she thought as she looked around the room, these people are the reason why they fight so hard, with so much passion. _

Dodging the collapsing remains of the stairway, she carefully stepped over the groaning wood, confirming that the souls of the people who had perished in the fire had been properly escorted to the Spirit World.

_Each time the Spirit Detectives fought a battle, they fought for more than just victory or the petty spoils of fame and fortune. Each had a reason for the blows they sustained, the wounds they received, and the lives each took. Each fought to preserve the people they love and what is most precious about them. _

_Yuuske fights for Keiko's spirit, the flame which fueled her fiery character. With each stroke of his sword Hiei shelters his sister, her innocence as pure as the falling snow. Kuwabara inadvertently protects both Yukina and his sister Shizuru's unbound strength, as loud and powerful as the wind._

Botan sat upon the bits of broken metal and pieces of melted glass. Clouds were billowing up above her, drops of water landing on the smoldering wood. The piles of ashes became dark rivers, sluggishly flowing in the dirt.

Rain was pouring all around her, slicking hair against the back of her neck. She felt her eyes prickle with tears as she watched rivers of black and blood and gray flow towards her. Tears dripped down her skin to mix within the ruins of someone's dream, someone's ideal. This is what she embodied. Keiko was a flame, Yukina was snow, Shizuru was wind. But she, she was ashes.

Ashes are inevitable, what is expected after all the brilliance has faded. So was she. Death comes when a person's life has been exhausted, when every last ounce of will has been spent. Used up.

Who would fight for ashes? Who would fight for the remnants of yesterday, a dream, a memory which was now trickling out of reach? Botan tried so hard to mask the loneliness she felt with a cheerful smile or a bubbly laugh. She tried to make the most out of each day because she knew that things would never change. Death is a journey that all but her may take. Death for anyone is a beginning, but what about Death itself? She had no future, nothing to look forward to. She was already ashes, and ashes were all that she could ever become.

_Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. _

Death keeps good company she thought bitterly. The rain trickled down her face, and she glanced around her domain. The wind seemed to be weeping as it scattered the ashes. She mounted her oar and flew. Her duty had been done.

Botan plastered a bright smile onto her face as she neared the Spirit World. The smile faltered as she remembered.

_Ashes to ashes._


End file.
